Heroic Stories

Rob Kaczmark starts with a Thor: Ragnarok scene and ends with why it's okay to be mad at God.

Rob is the founder of Spirit Juice Studios (12 Emmys and over a billion views), and host of the new show Flicker and Burn. On Heroic Stories he talks about what happens when the things a man planned on are stripped away: how he takes it one brick at a time, what he does with his anger at God after a hard year, why there is a fourth Jesus tattooed on him, and how he is teaching his sons to own their mistakes.

What You'll Learn
✅ Why the Thor: Ragnarok scene is a picture of surrendering to God the Father
✅ How "one day at a time" and "one brick at a time" carry a man through uncertainty
✅ Why Rob says it's okay to be mad at God, and what to do with the anger
✅ Why he teaches his sons to own their mistakes instead of blaming the ref

Spirit Juice Studios

CHAPTERS
00:00 Welcome to Heroic Stories
01:48 The Thor: Ragnarok scene that lights him up
06:13 Why it hits: life stripped away
09:13 Living with uncertainty
11:33 A family diagnosis and letting go of control
15:06 One day at a time, one brick at a time
17:17 Childhood: Terminator 2, Legos and BMX
19:29 Growing up Catholic
21:17 The Medjugorje pilgrimage
23:41 A prayer at Notre Dame and a hard year
27:10 Angry at God, choosing to trust him
28:56 Tattoos: the skull, the Seven Sorrows, Jesus on his head
31:26 Carved into the palms of his hands
32:58 What fatherhood taught him about God's love
37:22 Heroes: his father and St. Joseph
41:47 Raising sons to own their mistakes
46:55 F3: fitness, fellowship, faith
49:08 Who he is here to serve

▶ Watch this episode on YouTube

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ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

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Heroic Men brings isolated men into brotherhood where they are strengthened by Christ to pray, connect and invite. Our mission is to see one million men living the Heroic Pledge by 2033.
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A rabid bat scare taught physicist Steve Rouhana why evangelization is life-saving news. Steve is a PhD physicist with 32 years in crash safety at GM and Ford, an MA in pastoral studies, and a writer on the Rosary and on gender dysphoria (per the host's intro). We start with a rabid bat and end with how he prays each day.

In between: loving family who don't practice the faith, why he left GM over crash-safety ethics, boyhood dreams of the priesthood and the stars, and what he says after reading the research on gender dysphoria for his book, 'The King and Queen Are Naked.'

What You'll Learn
✅ How a rabid-bat scare turned into a lesson on evangelization
✅ How to love family members who don't practice the faith
✅ Why a PhD physicist left GM over crash-safety ethics
✅ Why Steve argues for compassion without affirmation on gender dysphoria

Get the book: The King and Queen Are Naked

CHAPTERS
00:00 Welcome to Heroic Stories
01:47 The rabid bat story
07:24 Life-saving news: why evangelize
09:10 Loving family who don't practice
13:26 Leaving GM over crash safety
18:32 Priesthood, astronaut, Air Force Academy
25:04 A son's question on gender dysphoria
28:39 Why the APA dropped the disorder
35:37 The King and Queen Are Naked
39:20 The Cass Review and puberty blockers
45:40 Conversion therapy, in his words
48:03 Who he serves and how he prays

TAKE THE HEROIC PLEDGE
Pray daily. Connect weekly. Invite monthly.
Take the Heroic Pledge

FIND A CATHOLIC MEN'S GROUP
Search for ministries and conferences near you:
Find a Catholic men’s group

SUPPORT THE MISSION
Help us bring isolated men into brotherhood:
Support the mission

GET THE HEROIC MAN MAGAZINE
Read The Heroic Man magazine

FOLLOW HEROIC MEN
Facebook: Facebook
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LISTEN TO HEROIC STORIES
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ABOUT HEROIC MEN
Heroic Men brings isolated men into brotherhood where they are strengthened by Christ to pray, connect and invite. Our mission is to see one million men living the Heroic Pledge by 2033.

Strengthen the man. Strengthen the family.
Strengthen the family. Strengthen the Church.
Strengthen the Church. Transform the culture.

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

Former Playboy photo editor Kevin Kuster spent decades chasing money, status, power and pornography until divorce, lawsuits and despair shattered his life. Kevin reveals how childhood shame shaped his identity, why he considered suicide, what happened during his first confession in 25 years and how an encounter with the Holy Spirit led him back to the Catholic faith.

Book Kevin on CatholicSpeakers.com | Kevin Kuster's Website: | Get the Book

What You’ll Learn

✅ How childhood wounds shape adult choices

✅ Why Kevin’s successful life felt empty

✅ What brought him back to confession

✅ How the Holy Spirit transformed his life

ABOUT HEROIC MEN

Heroic Men brings isolated men into brotherhood where they are strengthened by Christ to pray, connect and invite. Our mission is to see one million men living the Heroic Pledge by 2033.Strengthen the man. Strengthen the family.Strengthen the family. Strengthen the Church.Strengthen the Church. Transform the culture.

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

Fatherhood changes a man. For record-setting runner and Catholic convert Alan Webb, raising daughters forced a deeper question: What does it actually mean to be a man? Webb talks about masculine leadership, marriage, athletic discipline, conversion, miscarriage, confession, and the responsibility every father carries to show his children what faith looks like under pressure. His answer is demanding: a man needs to know who he is leading, where he is leading them, and whether his own life can survive being copied by his children.

What You’ll Learn

✅ Why fatherhood strengthened Webb’s masculinity

✅ How miscarriage deepened his Catholic faith

✅ Why athletic discipline needs a spiritual destination

✅ What Catholic leadership looks like inside a family

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Heroism is made

00:58 Meet Alan Webb

01:39 Maximilian Kolbe and sacrifice

04:27 Life with four daughters

06:02 Fatherhood strengthened his masculinity

09:24 What daughters learn from dad

12:20 Defining true masculinity

14:36 Losing a child

16:04 The value of human life

19:35 Loss deepened his faith

21:41 When Christ’s burden feels heavy

23:11 Athletic success in perspective

25:47 What sports teach men

29:54 Failure and conversion

32:08 Eucharist and confession

33:26 Why John Paul II matters

35:13 Meeting his wife

38:15 Who Alan wants to serve

Hashtags

#CatholicMen #CatholicMasculinity #AlanWebb

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

What does strong masculinity actually look like? After 17 years as a Protestant pastor, Brandon Powell left his career, friendships, and familiar world behind to enter the Catholic Church. He and Dominic explore the men who shaped his understanding of masculinity, the courage of fathers and martyrs, why real strength includes gentleness, and how ordinary inconveniences become opportunities for a man to sacrifice for others. Brandon also shares how prayer, honest self-examination, Scripture, and fatherhood continue forming the kind of man he wants to become.

Website: https://www.whyitmatterscatholic.org/

Book Brandon: https://catholicspeakers.com/profiles/brandon-powell

What You’ll Learn

✅ Why masculinity can be strong, gentle, and generous

✅ Why sacrifice matters more than comfort

✅ How fatherhood changes a man’s understanding of courage

✅ How prayer forms men for responsibility and service

00:00 Brandon Powell

01:22 Two teenage refugees choose freedom

04:34 Could I make that sacrifice?

07:32 Leaving Protestant ministry

11:08 The search that led to Catholicism

14:40 Why some men keep digging

15:27 Learning to ask hard questions

20:27 Scripture rabbit holes

23:49 The Ark and Catholic reverence

26:30 Brandon’s models of masculinity

27:52 Thomas Becket and moral courage

30:45 Blessed Stanley Rother

33:36 Sacrifice in ordinary life

36:26 Building a Catholic prayer life

40:02 Stop trying to sound impressive

42:27 Giving God room to answer

#CatholicMen #CatholicConversion #CatholicFaith

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

Every man wants justice when he has been betrayed, humiliated, wounded, or cheated. But what happens when the demand for justice becomes its own prison? Chuck Jansen joins Heroic Men to explain why forgiveness is one of the hardest and most heroic choices a Catholic man can make. Drawing from years of teaching in prisons, churches, and men’s groups, Chuck reveals how unresolved pain controls men, why forgiveness is a decision rather than a feeling, and how surrender to the Holy Spirit frees a man from anger without denying evil, abandoning truth, or excusing the offender.

Website: https://www.forgivenessinstitutekc.com

What You’ll Learn

✅ Why men confuse forgiveness with weakness

✅ How unresolved wounds begin controlling your life

✅ Why justice alone fails to heal the heart

✅ How the Holy Spirit leads men into freedom

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 The man behind the mission

01:25 Finding purpose inside prison

04:26 Trauma changes a man

08:14 Why forgiveness feels impossible

09:34 Justice can become a prison

12:00 Grace transforms wounded men

13:39 Acknowledge, own, process

17:19 The danger of controlling everything

19:19 Let God write the next chapter

21:32 Why men resist surrender

24:11 Chuck’s forgiveness journey

25:38 When the mission became personal

28:09 Mercy toward men who did evil

30:45 Facing judgment without hatred

32:09 Justice, action, and surrender

34:48 The men who formed Chuck

36:16 Resources for learning forgiveness

37:54 Trusting the Holy Spirit

39:45 Serving men without a voice

40:16 The freedom forgiveness brings

#CatholicMen #ChristianForgiveness #HeroicMen

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

Many Catholic men feel bored, underused and unsure where they fit in the Church. Sam Halligan of Forge joins Heroic Stories to explore why men need a demanding mission, how sacrifice becomes a way of life, and what Ernest Shackleton’s impossible Antarctic expedition can teach men about leadership. Sam also shares the painful discernment that uprooted his career and family, why struggle can transform a man’s identity, and how ordinary men can recover purpose by serving the people already within their reach.

What You’ll Learn

✅ Why men respond to difficult missions

✅ How sacrifice forms masculine identity

✅ Why struggle can become an encounter with God

✅ How one man’s life affects everyone around him

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Heroic Stories with Sam Halligan

01:40 Shackleton’s impossible expedition

05:32 Why this story matters

07:15 Cutting away dead weight

09:38 Ordinary men can become leaders

11:38 Making heroism practical

13:19 Choosing sacrifice early

18:21 What sacrifice truly means

20:08 The Church asks too little

21:41 Men need a greater story

24:08 Giving men a real mission

26:05 Why modern men feel bored

28:37 Sam’s hardest recent decision

33:13 Finding purpose through suffering

35:03 Stop wishing struggle away

37:31 Jacob wrestles with God

39:32 Encounter changes how you walk

42:31 Sleeping through your climax

42:54 Sam’s heroes

47:14 Becoming a brother to men

#CatholicMen #CatholicManhood #MensMinistry

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

What gives a man purpose when his plans collapse? Dillon Caswell chats about Christian hope, Catholic faith, and the courage to serve through suffering. Caswell opens up about becoming a caregiver at 17 after his mother suffered serious complications during cancer surgery. The experience forced him to release his athletic ambitions, grow into responsibility and learn that heroism often begins with the person directly in front of you.

His story later leads through career disruption, a call to write despite dyslexia, conversion to Catholicism and a growing conviction that obedience matters more than controlling the next five years.

Book Dillon Caswell: https://catholicspeakers.com/profiles/dr-dillon-caswell-pt-dpt-scs

Get the book: https://hopenotnope.org/learn-about-the-book/

What You’ll Learn

✅ A deeper Catholic definition of masculine purpose

✅ What Tim Green’s ALS witness teaches about hope

✅ How suffering formed Caswell’s life of service

✅ Why surrender can require greater courage than control

00:00 Dillon Caswell

03:09 A different definition of heroism

05:08 Tim Green writes with his eyes

06:51 The collapse of Caswell’s plan

08:18 Called to write through dyslexia

11:52 The crisis that changed his family

14:58 Service replaces athletic ambition

17:38 Formation through his father

20:06 A Catholic promise completed

21:00 His future wife invites him

23:19 Finding home in the Mass

25:27 A strange beginning to RCIA

26:51 Mary and the grotto

28:02 His greatest Catholic barrier

31:38 Why St. Paul became his hero

37:09 Living beyond long-range plans

#DillonCaswell #CatholicConversion #FaithThroughSuffering

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

You were created for a mission no one else can fulfill. Jacob Niemeier shares how encountering families drinking contaminated water in Haiti moved him to leave a secure engineering career, launch Vera Aqua Vera Vita, and bring clean water, sanitation, education, and hope to thousands. He and Dominic explore Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati, Catholic heroism, discernment, authentic leadership, service to the poor, and why men find purpose when they offer their gifts to others.Book Jacob: https://catholicspeakers.com/profiles/jacob-niemeierWhat You’ll Learn✅ How to recognize a genuine calling from God✅ Why your unique mission matters to the world✅ How service creates purpose and lasting joy✅ Why men need direction, virtue, and responsibilityABOUT HEROIC MEN:Heroic Men strengthens men to become missionary disciples, to bring more men to Jesus Christ. Get the best Catholic media for men on our brotherhood-building platform - let's leave no man behind.Get the app: https://heroicmen.orgFind a ministry near you: https://heroicmen.org/mapJoin the Heroic Brotherhood: https://heroicmen.org/brotherhoodDonate now: https://heroicmen.org/donateFOLLOW ON SOCIAL:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heroicmanhoodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heroicmanhood/TIMESTAMPS00:00 Meet Jacob Niemeier01:22 Pier Giorgio Frassati’s courage05:46 A life built around others08:21 Leaving a secure engineering career12:41 Discovering your unique mission15:17 Testing whether a calling is real16:32 Childhood nightmares and faith18:56 The Haiti experience that changed him23:11 Building a clean-water mission27:19 Why men have lost direction31:20 Three ways to discover purpose35:57 Becoming a hero for the poor #CatholicMen #FindingPurpose #CleanWater

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

A weather forecast can become an act of courage. Brian Shields, known online as https://www.youtube.com/c/MrWeatherman Mr. Weatherman, shares how a mission trip to Haiti turned his childhood fear of storms into a global mission serving people across the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. He tells the story of a woman who used his hurricane warning to keep a friend from returning to a home that was later destroyed, explains why people facing disasters need presence as much as information, and reflects on faith, responsibility, burnout, family, and serving people who feel alone.

What You’ll Learn

✅ How a child’s advice launched a weather ministry

✅ Why useful information can become heroic action

✅ How faith keeps service from becoming self-destruction

✅ Why presence matters during fear and disaster

ABOUT HEROIC MEN:

Heroic Men strengthens men to become missionary disciples, to bring more men to Jesus Christ. Get the best Catholic media for men on our brotherhood-building platform - let's leave no man behind.

Get the app: https://heroicmen.org

Find a ministry near you: https://heroicmen.org/map

Join the Heroic Brotherhood: https://heroicmen.org/brotherhood

Donate now: https://heroicmen.org/donate

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heroicmanhood

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heroicmanhood/

00:58 Meeting Mr. Weatherman

01:51 A mission born in Haiti

03:28 His sons reveal the answer

04:05 A forecast saves a life

05:47 Why weather became his calling

08:08 Reporting weather builds community

09:53 Courage through small yeses

12:18 The people who kept him going

13:21 Waiting through Hurricane Melissa

16:23 Why he keeps serving

19:16 Handling criticism online

21:18 Privilege creates responsibility

24:56 Serving without burning out

26:05 Faith, limits, and vocation

29:44 Why faith remains essential

31:02 The heroes who formed him

34:14 Pope Leo and Villanova

36:23 Serving people who feel alone

#HeroicMen #CatholicMen #MrWeatherman

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories